Saturday 11 May 2013 01.00 EDT
First published on Saturday 11 May 2013 01.00 EDT

Lee Camp And Nick Revell: Transatlantic Fury, On tour

There's been a lot of moaning about the state of UK topical comedy in recent times, especially compared to the US. Why can't we have our own equivalent of The Daily Show? (Answer: this country's too small to generate enough viewers, and there's not sufficient money in TV budgets to pay the writers.) But to show that our homegrown satirical talents are capable of standing up to their transatlantic counterparts, excellent Brit lefty stand-up Nick Revell and US activist comic Lee Camp are heading out on a joint headlining tour. They're both strong performers who combine a mission to explain with a more fundamental need to entertain, which means the gigs will be much more about generating big laughs rather than preaching to the converted. They're a nice study in contrasts, too, with Camp the idealistic, never-say-die type and Revell the relentless cynic.

Nina Conti: Dolly Mixtures, London

Ostensibly, it's an art form that involves little more than someone thrusting their arm into a bit of felt and hoping the audience doesn't spot their lips moving. However, there are no shortage of ventriloquists desperate to explain how their work has its roots in the classical world and is one of humanity's longest-lasting obsessions. Nina Conti's recent documentary Her Master's Voice could have been seen as another entry in this navel-gazing genre, but it's actually richly entertaining and non-po-faced. All of which will be to the fore in this latest solo (if you don't count the puppets) outing. Dolly Mixtures sees Conti accompanied by an eclectic mix of well-realised grotesque dummies who are less sidekicks, more nightmarish reflections of her subconscious. They say the appalling things she wants to say, but is simply too nice to utter.

Soho Theatre, W1, Sat, Wed to Fri, to 25 May

Daniel Kitson: After The Beginning. Before The End, On tour

The current comedy climate makes the continued success of Daniel Kitson all the more remarkable. Kitson is a comedian who refuses to have any truck with the conventional rules of showbiz, turning down TV offers (which seem to be a prerequisite for "success") and focusing entirely on live work. Yet he shifts loads of tickets to an avid audience, and enjoys near-unprecedented levels of respect from his fellow stand-ups. More even than Stewart Lee, he fits the bill of the comedian's comedian. This latest tour sees him swapping the one-man-play style of his recent work for straightahead stand-up; though straightahead is an unlikely description of his style, which takes a bewildering number of ideas, experiences and reference points and weaves them into a seemingly shambling, but in fact finely crafted, whole.